wow thats a good question, seeing im at my peak at this very moment, i pretty much always have a general sick feeling bad headache, weird feeling in my chest, shortness of breath,very fatigued,excessive worry?? i tend to get very nervous and bite my nails or have to move something my feet for example,i tend to get depressed feelings during these times. my anxiety is very unpredictable never sure how i will feel when i wake up "thats my biggest problem" because i never ever make plans to go or do anything its always maybe ill wait till the time arrives which 99% of the time i never do.

Urg, well here goes. Heart will start beating faster and really heavily (like I can feel it shaking my body almost) until it is so fast I can't feel the pulse any more, either that or it will go so slow it almost seems to stop. Then I get pins and needles usually down my left hand arm and a strange kind of stinging pain that radiates up into my head and makes my head feel almost pressurised, very weird pain, very intense. I can go cold and start to shiver or I can sweat. Sometimes when I breathe in I get a stabbing like pain on my left hand side and often all the muscles in my neck shoulders and down through my back ache (they often then ache for a day or so afterwards as well). I get so dizzy that my only option is to lie down or fall down, if I am out (which is not often due to Agoraphobia) I run to my nearest 'safe' place such as the car or my home. Sometimes my chest feels like I can't breathe like there is not enough room for me to take a breath or something is pressing on my chest and in my back it sometimes feels as though my lungs ache, a really cold achy feeling.

I get this pretty much 24/7, I don;t feel stressed all of the time yet the pain, symptoms are always there, they never go. I get Disassociation symptoms too which makes me feel like my eyes don't catch up when I turn or something, which makes me feel all the more dizzy.

I have probably forgotten something, but that is quite abit to be going n with!

I've had a panic attack pretty much all day, and I even took a Klonopin... Generally, I have abdominal cramps that are constricting, and then ebb for a bit, my heart races, my breathing is quick, I get the smothering sensation in my throat when I swallow, my face is flushed, and my hands are freezing. This is for a daily panic attack. When I get REALLY bad, like I was this morning, I can barely move because I'm so paralyzed with the panic. The symptoms are just so intensified. I can't even really describe it, but my muscles just tense up, and I get frozen. When I'm like this, I tend to just stay in my bed, face the wall, and curl up in a fetal position. I just sit there, and all that gets me through is prayer and a Klonopin. I also usually rock back-and-forth, or trace a pattern on the bedspread over-and-over, or continually just rub my finger or toe on the sheet to calm me. I do this more so when I'm having a full-out breakdown, which also includes crying. I think that my coping mechanisms are really my Asperger's. It's a sort of "stimming," I think...
-GatsbyLuvr1920-

__________________
"Not everything that steps out of line, and thus 'abnormal,' must necessarily be 'inferior.'"
-Hans Asperger

Right along with you guys. I can pretty much keep it under control and then it will disappear for a few weeks and then I will have another one and then I think oh no, I am having a heart attack because I forget and think I am cured from anxiety when I don't have it for a while. Then it starts all over again for a few months. It is a vicious cycle for me. I just don't get why it comes and goes for me. Why can't it just go away? Far far away, forever!

P.S. I just wanted to add that on Monday I may be able to talk myself out of an attack or at least some of the worse symptoms but then on Friday I may have another attack and can't control that one. Very, very weird.

I am in the same boat as the rest....All the physical symptoms previously described I get on a day to day basis as well. Then, I will go weeks with no symptoms at all and feel like I may have "kicked" this nasty thing and it comes back like a vicious cycle out of nowhere. I can't pinpont any triggering moments....

Yes, Amy...I also can not pinpoint the triggering moment...that is what's scary...I try to think why am I having an attack...all is going well right now...then I think wow, this must be a heart attack then because my life is going well...

Last edited by ms_mod; 07-13-2006 at 08:49 AM.
Reason: Removed unnecessary quote. When you address the poster by name there is no need to use the quote function. Ms_Mod

Its so hard to describe. Its so many various things all hitting me at once. The best way i can describe it is, it feels like having a million butterflies my stomach. I shake uncontrollably. Its like every nerve in my body has been tapped with fear. So I can feel it all the way to my finger tips. Every breath I take feels like im breathing nervous energy in and out. My legs get weak. I get dizzy. But the worse is my stomach just goes into knots and makes me feel nauseated. I cant eat anything, not even soft foods because it just feels painful and theres no appetite. And when I do force myself to eat something I usually throw it up. Sleeping is impossible. And for me no matter what I do, think or feel, it just sits there inside me and I basically have to maintain my sanity to ride it out until I get get some type of relief. And when I do get relief its short lived.

I take Clonazepam, but when its peaking its not very effective. I try running warm water over my hands. Breathing. Talking or writing. For some reason Alka Seltzers break the stomach pains for a good 30 mins. Oh and sometimes crying helps.

Well, let's see. I have different sorts of attacks, I've been having full-blown attacks off and on since about age 19 (I'm now 31), but I had isolated symptoms before that. I usually get a VERY strong urge to flee, like I have to get to my safe place (usually home if I'm away from home, or if I'm just out at a mall or something, I need to get to my car) I feel like I'm losing touch with reality, I may become dizzy, my heart will sometimes feel fluttery or skippy (that alone can set off an attack), I feel short of breath, sometimes I get a pressure in my left jaw or arm, sometimes I get a knot in my stomach, and sometimes I just shake and tremble all over, but most noticeably in my legs (I guess because they are large muscles, so it's more noticeable).

Hmmm, this is an interesting thread. It seems some of you have more physical symptoms than I do. Mostly my heart and my mind race. It's the thoughts that are the worst for me. I feel disassociation with the rest of the world and depersonalization. What's worse, I start to feel like I'm going crazy...and of course that I'm either going to die or end up in a mental institution. If it were just a fast heart rate, I could easily deal with it, but it's the psychological aspects that debilitate me.

Whew. Man these are the best personal descriptions of anxiety I've ever read. These symptoms are debilitating. There has to be something else going on and there's gotta be some treatment for what we go through. Current antidepressants arent doing it.

Whenever I'm feeling this way I cannot function. I usually stick close to the bed and computer. The only cure is sleep but it is becoming less effective.

Really, what's causing this? We know that there are millions out there who suffer from the same things we do. Must Life be so stressful? What can we do about it? We need a global anti-stress campaign. I am beginning to believe that stress isnt the only culprit.

My anxitey feeds on my worst fears at that present time. It first started with the feeling that I couldn't breathe..and I relate that to the fact that I watched a lady pass away from a pulmonary embolism....scary....Then about 3 years ago, I was at at TGIFridays and was talking while eating....very bad manners I know, and I kinda choked on my food...ever since then, I have been a roller coaster of fear of choking. I lived off of ensure for weeks, even months maybe because I was scared to death that I would choke, even my throat muscles are tense and when I go to swallow I just freeze and I can't do it..I was even scared to chew gum for crying out loud! It subsided this past summer, kinda, because I was pregnant and knew I had to eat. Now that my DD is 9 months old, and I'm working my symptoms are returning. Especially at work because I am out of my "element". The Dr put me on Lexapro, but I'm hesitant on taking it because I had BAD side effects from Paxil...I'm just a big ole chicken. She also gave me Ativan to counter-act any adverse effects...Anxiety is a horrible thing...it makes me edgy and jumpy at the slightest things, irritable, tired, feeling exhausted 24/7...but yet I can't sleep at night...and I can't eat, again. It's a never ending cycle for me...I don't eat, my sugar gets low...I get scared and then I have an attack... When I have an attack I'm in a "fog" and can't think straight, I have the "I have to get out of here NOW" issue, I get really cold and I shake like a mini seizure, and when it does subside, I am physically exhausted and I get a migraine and I'm sensitive to light and sound and nauseated!!! I have to come to realize that I now avoid things that kick my anxiety into gear..It's crazy and I hate everything about it....

Also, to add to my last post....When my attack is over, my stomach is so irritated, and it causes me to have a bowel movement. Most of the time it's diarrhea. I know it's from nerves, but sometimes it seems once I have gone to the bathroom, my hands warm back up and the shaking stops....very weird...and I'm not the only person that's had this...a few friends of mine with anxiety experience the same thing.